Filed to story: Submitting to My Bestie’s Daddy Read Online >>???
I heard him give a heavy sigh, and he replied carefully back, “I’ll find it for you.”
“Thank you,” I smiled, truly grateful for his help. “Don’t tell Tallon, please. I’ll tell him everything when I get back myself, alright?”
“I won’t tell him unless he asks me himself. I won’t lie for you on this,” he said firmly. “Tallon comes first.”
“That’s fine,” I said kindly. “I would expect nothing else.”
He gave a low chuckle, and I could hear in his voice that he disapproved of what I was going to do but that he wasn’t going to stop me. There was a tiny hint of respect in his voice as he said, “I’ll text the address. Just don’t kill her.”
And before I could reply, the line went dead.
I sucked in a deep breath, holding my phone tightly in my hand as I glanced at the clock, just waiting. It was not even ten minutes later that I felt the vibration of the text, and I barely glanced at it before I pulled on my shoes and purse and used every bit of careful sneakiness I had to unlatch the front door that was built like a steel bunker and shut it behind me.
Determined, I glanced at the road, the sun having just risen over the side of the house. It was still chilly from the cold morning, with a slight frost on the fallen leaves as they crunched under my shoes as I made my way to the end of the driveway.
There waiting was the driver Tallon had assigned to me recently, a kind woman in her fifties with a crooked smile and rosy cheeks.
“Morning, Miss Natalia,” she said cheerfully, way too chipper for the time I had called her out.
“Good morning, Ethel,” I said casually, flipping out my phone as I approached. I opened up the text with the address, handing it over as I said, “Can you take me here?”
“Can do, Miss Natalia,” Ethel smiled, asking no other questions. “Would you like to stop for breakfast first?”
“No, thank you,” I politely declined.
“It’ll be about ten to fifteen minutes then, depending on traffic.” She chuckled to herself, moving to the driver’s seat as I climbed into the back. Ethel seemed to understand my non-talkative mood as she quietly started the car and we pulled out of the driveway.
I tapped my finger on the screen of my phone, anxious. I hoped that this didn’t come to a fight, but I wasn’t going to let her push me or Tallon around anymore.
And if, as Vinny had said, Tallon truly got angry at me for this, then I would just have to do my best to make him understand it was necessary.
The trip was quicker than expected due to the lack of traffic that early in the morning, and soon we pulled up to the apartment building.
I double-checked the address out front before telling Ethel, “I’ll be back soon. I’d appreciate it if you could wait for me.”
“No problem, Miss Natalia,” Ethel said kindly.
I nodded at her before heading up the stairs. The apartment was easy to find thanks to Vinny’s message, and after a short elevator ride, I appeared in front of the maroon-colored door.
I took a deep breath, steeled myself, and knocked firmly on the door. At first, there was no reaction, and I knocked again before I heard movement shuffling across the floorboards.
The door opened, and an annoyed woman appeared as she ranted, “Who the fuck–”
She stopped at the sight of me, her eyes going wide in shock.
“Hello, Bianca.” I gave her a sharp grin.
*Natalia*
I could read the shock written all over Bianca’s face, as well as a bit of apprehension. Good. I wanted her to be nervous. She might have thought that she was messing with some girl who would just run off crying to Tallon, but she had no idea what I was capable of.
I had never been the type of girl who ran away from a problem, and I wasn’t about to start now. I worked to keep my face neutral. I wanted this to be a pleasant interaction if at all possible, but I could still feel my jaw clenching involuntarily.
“Um, hey, come on in,” Bianca finally managed to choke out.
She stepped back and opened her door, and I walked in and surveyed the place. I had to admit that it was nice; she definitely had great taste. Her entire living room looked like it had been taken directly from a magazine. It was full of neutral colors that complemented each other beautifully.
If I were here for any other reason, I would have loved to ask her where she got her plush couch pillows from, but unfortunately for her, this was not a friendly visit.
“How have you been?” Bianca asked nervously as I made no move to sit down, instead turning to face her with my arms crossed over my chest.
“I’ll be honest, Bianca, not great,” I said as I walked around the living room, not bothering to hide the way I was surveying and judging the place. “I’ve been having a few issues with wedding planning.”
“Oh, I totally get that! It’s tough to plan such a big event,” she said.
I turned to face her, crossing my arms over my chest.
She smiled weakly, then continued on, “I’ve been having troubles too. You know, I met the most amazing wedding planner the other day, I’m planning on hiring her myself, but I could definitely pass along her information! You would love her. She’s so in touch with all the local places. She really knows her stuff.”
I wanted to roll my eyes at her nervous babbling, but I didn’t want to put my cards on the table just yet. I knew from experience that the longer you stay silent while someone else is uncomfortable, the more they’ll accidentally reveal. Hell, Bianca was acting like she was about to confess everything to me and I had barely even said two sentences to her.
I turned around and settled down on her couch, making it clear that I was more than comfortable. I could tell that my apparent comfort in her presence was putting her even more on edge.
I leaned over and picked up a copy of Vogue Italia that she had displayed on her coffee table. The front cover featured a model wearing a voluminous wedding gown, and the few words I glanced over made it clear that it was some sort of bridal issue.
“Anything catch your eye in here?” I asked.
“Um, yeah, a few things. I don’t know, a lot of it is pretty high-end.”
“Oh, you don’t have the budget for that?” I looked at her and raised my eyebrow.
The dress she had stolen from me was definitely high-end, and the venue that Tallon and I had picked was the opposite of cheap. Although I would be happy to marry Tallon anywhere in anything, he had insisted that we go all out. I knew that he would be inviting family who hadn’t seen him in a while as well, so I wanted to make a good impression.
But Bianca’s meddling had taken a lot of the wind out of my sails, and I was beginning to regret agreeing to a lavish wedding. It would’ve been much more difficult for her to cause problems if we’d done something more discreet.
“Well, not really,” she muttered, clearly uncomfortable with talking about money. “Not all of us are marrying successful businessmen!”
I worked hard to suppress my smile. She was right. Not all of us were marrying successful businessmen, me included. But just the fact that she didn’t even know Tallon well enough to know about his involvement in the mafia made me feel much better about how insignificant she really was to him. If he had ever actually planned on having a future with her, he would have told her about what he really did.
“No, you’re right,” I responded, unwilling to apologize.
I carelessly tossed the magazine back onto her coffee table, not bothering to place it back where it had been. I didn’t care at all if I came off as rude.
She glanced around, seemingly at a loss for what to say next. I felt like a cat who had managed to trap a mouse between my paws. I had to admit, it was satisfying to see her squirm under my critical gaze. I suspected that she’d never thought I would actually confront her about her attempts to get in the way of my wedding planning and even still, she didn’t seem sure whether that was why I was here or not.
“So, Natalia, how did you find out where I live?” she asked, a slight tremor of fear in her voice. “I’m pretty sure I never told you.”
“No, you didn’t, but I have my ways.” My voice was as hard as steel. “You seem to have your ways as well. You’re sure good at getting in people’s way.”
She appeared to go through every emotion all at once, and I coughed to cover up the laugh that threatened to burst out of me at the sight of her pretty face turning bright red as her mouth twisted, clearly unsure which emotion she wanted to let me see. Finally, she managed to widen her eyes and slightly wrinkle her forehead; the perfect picture of confusion.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said, her voice tight with the lie.
I rolled my eyes, unwilling to play along with her when it was obvious that we both knew exactly why I was here. At this point, it was insulting to both of our intelligence to continue to beat around the bush.
